Building the case for faster and more effective acute stroke treatment

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability in Australia, with a $6.2 billion direct financial cost and a further $26 billion in lost wellbeing and premature death. The majority of strokes (around 80 - 85 %) are caused by ischaemic strokes, where a vessel in the brain is blocked by a clot. Outcomes for patients suffering from this type of stroke are often poor, particularly for people in rural communities who have double the chance of a lifelong disability.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Professor Mark Parsons, Head of Neurology and Medicine at UNSW, and a Neurologist at Liverpool Hospital in New South Wales, about acute stroke treatments, specifically thrombectomy (mechanical and robotic) and new models of care.
Professor Parsons is an internationally recognised leader in Stroke Medicine and a highly sought-after speaker, instructor and mentor in all aspects of clinical Neuroscience. He has been appointed as Professor of Medicine and Neurology at UNSW South Western Sydney Clinical School and remains as Professor in Neurology in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne. Most recently, he was Director of the Department of Neurology, Royal Melbourne Hospital. He is also a Conjoint Professor of Neurology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Newcastle and a Visiting Professor at Fudan University, Shanghai.
Innovative treatments are available for ischaemic stroke, including mechanical thrombectomy which is a relatively new procedure pioneered by Australian surgeons and approved for funding by Medicare in 2017. It involves the physical removal of the clot from the brain by specialists, using minimally invasive surgical techniques and equipment under image guidance. For several years now, it has been considered a gold-standard treatment for large vessel ischaemic strokes, however only a fraction of eligible patients are receiving access to treatment.
Professor Parsons discusses the considerations in delivering treatment through new models of acute stroke response and mechanical thrombectomy, avoiding lifelong disability for the majority of the 15,000-20,000 large vessel occlusion strokes in Australia each year.